Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project

Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project is one of nine Ultra Mega Power Projects proposed by the government of India as part of a strategy to add an additional 100,000 megawatts of generation capacity by 2017. The 4,000 megawatt project is in the state of Andhra Pradesh and is being developed by Reliance Power.

The Krishnapatnam project is one of the four Ultra Mega Power Projects in India awarded as of July 2011. Of these, three are being executed by Reliance Power.

In June 2011, Reliance Power stopped work at its Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project, citing a hike in the cost of Indonesian coal that the project is to run on. Reliance Power claims that the new Indonesian Coal Price Regulation will push up the coal cost, and the company will not be able to meet the conditions set by the lenders, affecting its ability to meet the project cash flow requirements. The stoppage comes even as work on the associated infrastructure for the project is ongoing, including Power Grid Corporation's transmission link (Krishnapatnam-Nellore line for start-up power) that is scheduled to come up by November 2012.

Carbon credits
As of July 2011, five "high-efficiency" coal power plants, including Krishnapatnam, were registered under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism -- four in India and one in China -- meaning they are all eligible to earn certified emissions reductions (CERs) that they can sell. The five registered power projects involve two from Reliance Power totalling 8,000 MW, two projects totalling 2,640 MW from Adani Power and a 2,000 MW ultra-supercritical plant by Shenergy in China.

According to U.N. data, the five projects are eligible to receive a total of 68.2 million CERs over a 10-year crediting period. That is worth 661 million euros ($919 million) based on current prices of CERs traded on the European Climate Exchange of 9.70 euros.

Reliance's Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project will receive 12.3 million CERs and the firm's other 4,000 MW plant, Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in Madhya Pradesh, will receive 22.5 million. Total carbon dioxide emissions from the five projects, based on data from project design documents, over the 10-year crediting period is 673 million tonnes.

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